Cheng Yaodong (; born June 6, 1967 in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

football manager and a former international football player. As a player, he won the Chinese league and

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

with

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" i ...

before ending his career with Shanghai COSCO Huili. After retiring, he would immediately go into management with Shanghai COSCO Huili who he coached for seven seasons before joining Chinese League Two club Shanghai Zobon followed by Shanghai Shenxin.

Playing career

Club career

Cheng Yaodong started his football career with Shanghai in 1987 when they were originally a semi-professional football team. Predominantly used as a defender he would gradually establish himself within the Shanghai team for several seasons and would also see Shanghai become a professional football team in 1994 when they renamed themselves as

. In the 1995 league season Cheng Yaodong would help Shanghai win the second fully professional league title. His loyalty to Shanghai would see him named as their captain by the 1998 league season and would win the 1998

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh ti ...

, however despite playing for Shenhua through the majority of his football career Cheng could not win more honours with the club. Nearing the end of his football career he would play for second-tier team Shanghai COSCO Huili and help them win the division title and promotion to the top tier in the 2001 league season.

International career

Cheng Yaodong's greatest international achievement came when he would be called into the Chinese squad to play in the

1992 AFC Asian Cup The 1992 AFC Asian Cup was the 10th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan between 29 October ...

, which saw China come third in the tournament. Though he was squad player throughout his international career he did play in the tournament against Japan on November 6, 1992 in a 3-2 defeat.

Management career

Nearing the end of his football career Cheng Yaodong was offered the chance to manage Shanghai COSCO Huili during the 2003 league season where he replaced

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

and surprised many when he was able to steer them second in the league in his debut season and only one point off from the league title. The following season would see the club finish third within the league, however despite this the club could not continue to financially compete with local rivals Shanghai Shenhua and by the 2006 league season the club would move to

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...

and eventually change their name to

Shaanxi Chanba Beijing Chengfeng Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Fengtai District, Beijing and their ho ...

. While Cheng would move with the club he was unable to replicate the same success he initially had and with the club being prudent in their spending he was only able to guide the club into mid-table positions for the next several seasons. This was halted for a short time when he guided the club to fifth in the 2008 league season, however on 28 August 2009, he surprisingly resigned after a 1-0 away win against the past Shanghai derby rivals

, citing health problem and desire of studying abroad as reasons. While many among the public and media believed that due to his ties towards Shenhua, Cheng was seeking the possibility of replacing their coach

Jia Xiuquan Jia Xiuquan (; born 9 November 1963) is a Chinese football manager and former international player. Player career Club career As a player, Jia Xiuquan predominately played the majority of his career for Bayi Football Team. During his time at ...

, however Shenhua decided to go with the experienced manager

Miroslav Blažević Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (; born 10 February 1935) is a Croatian former professional football manager and player. His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, FK Saraj ...

and Cheng would return to Shanghai with third-tier club Shanghai Zobon at the beginning of the 2011 league season.

Honours

Player

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Assoc ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

: 1991, 1998 Shanghai COSCO Huili *Chinese Jia-B League: 2001

Manager

: 2003 (2nd Place)

References

External links

Biography
at Sina.com (Chinese) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Yaodong 1967 births Living people Chinese footballers Footballers from Shanghai Chinese football managers China international footballers Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Beijing Renhe F.C. players 1992 AFC Asian Cup players Beijing Renhe F.C. managers Shanghai Shenxin F.C. managers Chinese Super League managers Association football defenders Shanghai Port F.C. non-playing staff